Friday, July 8, 2016

A Massacre, a Microcosm

Like most people (there may be exceptions, but they're psychos), I was shocked and appalled by the Dallas mass shooting that claimed the lives of five law enforcement officers. I see this mass shooting as a microcosm of everything that is wrong with our society: a toxic intersection of racial animus, untreated mental illness (PTSD), and, of course, the preponderance of high-powered firearms that can fill the air with hot lead at an alarming rate.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the surreal bit about a bomb wielding robot being used to take down the shooter... it seems that somebody set up us the bomb will become a major component of police emergency response. Hopefully, the robots will be unable to differentiate between skin colors, it's the root of the problem.

All true, but let's be honest. The police have been harassing, beating, incarcerating and killing urban black kids for generations. In this culture, where we love our guns and violence is the preferred method of conflict resolution, it was always just a matter of time before the urban black kids - many of whom have now been trained and sent off to combat zones - started killing back. Dallas is no different than Ramallah - you treat people as occupied combatants, and they're going to become combatants.

I have no problem with the bomb/robot solution in this case. The concern is that it be used in less appropriate situations in the future, but the option was to continue to have a great big gunfight with a trained rifleman in a heavily populated urban center. You need to flip his switch without throwing three pounds of high velocity lead around downtown Dallas. I don't see this as any different than using a sniper - it was precision targeted to end one life and it was executed with a human in the loop - the robot did not make the decisions.

The fact that they had time to deploy it and the shooter didn't have any hostages made it a good choice. If they use it in those rare situations with discretion I'm fine with it.

About Me

The Big Bad Bald Bastard is a character played by Monsieur _______ of the City of Y______. The role of the Bastard is a handy one to play on subways, walking the streets, and in dive-bars, when being a nerdy, bookish sort is not to one's advantage.